Where: Reifel Bird Sanctuary (Delta), Tlahutum Regional Park (Coquitlam), Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 11–14°C
A spooky Halloween day of birding! Except it wasn’t spooky, it was sunny and pleasant.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
We started at Reifel, where the entrance pond had some Mallards and two small groups of Northern Shovellers doing that weird spiral thing they do, following each other in a tight circle to stir up the muck and enjoy the mucky spoils.
The various ponds were a bounty of colours, ranging from green to very green, brown, kind of yellow and in a few cases, blue! None of the waterfowl seemed to mind, even the very green water.
In the very green water of the London Slough, we noticed a duck with odd black and white colouring. A volunteer suggested it might be a hybrid consisting of part Swedish Blue, a domestic duck, and part Mallard, because Mallards will mate with anything. How it arrived at Reifel is unknown, perhaps a secret portal.
After getting shots of the interloper, we headed up the first trail and a family ahead of us had bird seed, which brought out approximately five million chickadees, plus two Red-breasted Nuthatches. The chickadees were darting past so close we could feel them whipping by. I had met my chickadee quota in the first ten minutes.
In one of the inner ponds, we saw our first Ring-necked Ducks of the season, woo. We still have yet to see any Scaups or Buffleheads, though.
I had a Canada Goose hiss hello at me. I assume they hiss to say hello. It didn’t do anything else. Speaking of geese, we saw flocks of Canada geese flying in formation multiple times–some of them migrating through rather than staying put year-round as most here do. We also saw flocks of Cackling geese and finally, a cacophony of honking informed us that the Snow geese had arrived, landing in their usual spot west of the sanctuary. So many geese, so much pooping potential. We never saw any up close, but that is normal for Reifel.
Along the same Outer Dyke Trail where we saw the Snow geese we also saw a number of herons, both in the marshland and flying overhead. One flew fairly low just over us and let out one of its loud croaks as it passed over. Legit, the only time a bird at Reifel has actually startled me. And especially Nic.
We also saw a solitary Greater Yellowlegs in one of the ponds not far from the viewing platform and lo, it caught a fish! But not just any fish, a stickleback. They are small, but have spiny fins, which make them a bit of a project to consume whole. The Yellowlegs worked on one for a fair bit, but finally got its prickly meal down. This is why I prefer ordering out.
I was a little disappointed with my shots, but I got some good ones here, too.
Tlahutum Regional Park
The community garden did not yield many birds overall, so we made do with a whole lotta crows.
The clear sky yielded some nice scenery shots and we saw a decent variety of birds in the Big Pond™, including a heron doing an excellent statue impression. Also, some kid on a bike with fat wheels rode past us like a million times.
There really wasn’t much else to see here this time, not even a rogue vole. But perhaps next time!
Piper Spit, Burnaby Lake
Yes, people were feeding the birds. The blackbirds were appreciative, as always.
The water level of the lake was up, which meant the landmass was smaller and the shorebirds moved over to the west side of the pier, against the light and farther away, not making for the best shots. Boo.
Instead, we got seagulls grabbing golf balls on the other side, along with a variety of coots pulling up green slimy stuff they love scarfing down, and a lot of Mallards. As previously noted, Mallards will mate with anything, but especially like mating with other Mallards. There were also geese, Wood Ducks and a few others around, but not in great numbers. And still no new migrants here, either.
I wonder if the (reduced) feeding will change their habits over time and ultimately cause many to abandon Piper Spit for other areas of the lake. I guess we’ll see.
In all, the weather was faboo, and I did get a few nice shots, even if my miss (and in many cases, literally a shot with no bird in it) ratio was a lot higher than normal.
The Shots
All photos shot with a Canon EOS R7 with 18–150 mm kit lens and 100–400 mm telephoto. Some landscape shots captured with a Samsung Galaxy S26.
Gallery soon™.
The Birds (and other critters)
Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:
- American Goldfinch
- American Robin
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Northern Flicker
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Song Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
Waterfowl and shorebirds:
- American Coot
- American Wigeon
- Cackling Goose
- Canada Goose
- Gadwall
- Great Blue Heron
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Green-winged Teal
- Long-billed Dowitcher
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Northern Shoveller
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Ring-necked Duck
- Sandhill Crane
- Snow Goose
- Wood Duck
Common:
- American Crow
- A few Ring-billed Seagulls
Raptors:
- Bald Eagle
- Northern Harrier
Non-birds:
- A black beetle
- A black squirrel